Community outraged by Yukon city council firing city manager
YUKON, Okla. (KFOR) — After 27 years with the City of Yukon, City Manager Tammy Kretchmar was terminated from her position “without cause.”
Former council members spoke out saying her termination had nothing to do with the work she has done with the city.
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Instead, they say certain members of the city council had a personal vendetta against Tammy, and they have been working on getting her removed as city manager for months.
“We’ll consider a motion to terminate the contract of the city manager immediately without cause under section six of the employment contract,” Brian Pillmore, Mayor of Yukon said.
By a mere 3-2 vote, the Yukon city councils motion to fire City Manager Tammy Kretchmar without cause passed, causing an uproar.
“The fact that you’re doing this without cause is suspicious, opens up the city to a lawsuit and waste taxpayers money,” Yukon resident said.
“This looks like a witch hunt. It looks like people got on the city council to make this happen, and that is very concerning to me for our city,” Yukon resident said.
That concern is backed up by confusion with many questioning why Tammy was let go.
“It appears that this is a personal vendetta,” Nick Grba, former city council member said.
Former city council members are baffled by the decision after working with Tammy during her 27-year tenure with the city.
“I’ve never known her to do anything wrong,” DeWayne Maxey, former city council member said. “I mean, she’s got good employees around her. She does a good job.”
Maxey believes the council made the decision long before the meeting.
“They went into executive session for three minutes, and that tells you straight up, they didn’t talk about squat,” Maxey said. “They knew what they were going to do when they walked back there.”
Some believe it’s not a coincidence the termination came minutes into the newly elected mayor’s first council meeting.
“One of the biggest things that jumps out to me is Brian Pillmore is the newly elected mayor, he was mayor for approximately seven hours,” Grba said. “His first order of business was to go into executive sessions, which by the way, lasted three minutes, and then they came out and terminated her contract.”
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“They voted the mayor off and they fired Tammy, and guess what, they’re both females,” Maxey said. “Now, what does that say to you? Maybe could they be a little sexist about what they’re doing?”
Without a city manager, they are worried about the future for the City of Yukon.
“If you’re going to make actions like this against the voices of your community, you better be ready for the repercussions of your actions,” Yukon resident said.
We reached out to each city council member along with the mayor and vice mayor. Donna Yanda, now a former council member provided this statement:
“I just ended a 10 ½ year tenure on the Yukon City Council, working with Tammy in many aspects of city government. She was always very professional, fair and served our city with the utmost respect and dedication. It is very disappointing and embarrassing that they would immediately terminate her without cause before even working with her. The citizens of Yukon deserve an explanation from those responsible.”
The only other person to respond was Vice Mayor Jeff Wootton providing this statement:
“As Vice Mayor of Yukon, I want to express my sincere appreciation to Ms. Tammy Kretchmar for her years of dedicated service to our city. We as a council acknowledge her contributions and her commitment to the Yukon community. However, after careful consideration, the City Council determined that a change in leadership is necessary to move the city forward at this time. We wish Ms. Kretchmar all the best in her future endeavors.”
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